so the San Francisco cheesecake - the crust is too greasy, next time I'll probably make a different one. The filling tastes good - I can still taste the cashews tiny little bit but otherwise its nice. The texture is a bit different to a cheesecake, more tofu-like. I'll probably try it again with a few modifications after I make a new batch of the cream cheese.

Any reviews of other desserts in the book? (I've read about the raspberry swirl cheesecake)

I do, because my cheeses are always escaping their confines - i stir to deflate. It's really forking hot here, things are fermenting furiously. I've never had anything get mold, so maybe it's a good idea.

soysusu wrote:

Any reviews of other desserts in the book? (I've read about the raspberry swirl cheesecake)

Haven't made a full dessert recipe, but the flax meringue ( part of the tiramisu) is SO COOL. I think it needs it's own thread, at least that's what i need cos i just keep making it and need more ideas for things to do with it.I do intend to make the tiramisu, but it requires turning on the oven, and it's too bloody hot here in the antipodes.

A bit of the cream cheese is great in ice cream, but don't let your base sit too long in the fridge after adding it as it will ferment and get tangier....unless that's what you want, of course.

And cream cheese in ice cream sounds pretty amazing! I may try the cheesecake in Vegan a la Mode with it. That recipe was so good with the chemical concoctions it calls for, but I just don't get into using that amount of fake stuff.

I'm starting to feel like maybe I'm the only person in the universe who has had the cream cheese fail on them. My apartment is appx. 68-70 degrees and I live in the desert, so the humidity is pretty low.

I put my mixture on the counter top in a clean glass bowl and covered it with another plate. I tasted it after 12 hours just to see... just tasted like blended cashews... then again after 24 and 36 hours... again... just tasted like blended cashews. At 48 hours, though, I went to taste it and it had a mauve-looking mold/bacteria colony growing on it and then another grey-ish colony in another spot. I didn't taste it 'cause I'm pretty sure that's not how it's supposed to be, so that ended up getting chucked. It did look like it had lots of air pockets and bubbles underneath the surface as I was scraping it into the sink, kinda like a bread sponge, so yeah... not sure how things went so very wrong in just a 12 hour period of time.

I'm pretty sure I know why this is happening to some of you. This is an important thread, and I am guessing that everyone who has had this problem did for the same reason. Clearly, if the cheese isn't culturing properly, but the bad bacteria are, then it means that the good bacteria was inactive. This can be due to two things - the initial probiotic added wasn't active, or that the bacteria was killed. If you're using a fresh yogurt, it is highly unlikely that that was inactive (I use Whole Soy frequently, especially as I often run out of homemade and need some immediately). My guess is that the mixture overheated while blending, thereby killing the friendly bacteria. This can happen because you're trying to get the mixture really smooth, and you just keep blending (a high-speed blender helps solve this problem). Did the mixture feel warm or hot when poured from the blender? If so, that was probably it.

To help blend without overheating, try doing it in 2 batches, or grinding the cashews in a food processor first. OR add a little water or more yogurt, enough to get it to go easily. It may seem pretty runny, but if it cultures properly, it will thicken (perhaps not as much as Philly-style, but will be like Galaxy). OR just start with raw cashew butter (and skip the soaking entirely). You need about 4.5 ounces of raw cashew butter per cup of cashews. Put the water and yogurt in the blender, add the cashew butter, and blend. This is easy and you won't overheat the mixture.

so the San Francisco cheesecake - the crust is too greasy, next time I'll probably make a different one. The filling tastes good - I can still taste the cashews tiny little bit but otherwise its nice. The texture is a bit different to a cheesecake, more tofu-like. I'll probably try it again with a few modifications after I make a new batch of the cream cheese.

Any reviews of other desserts in the book? (I've read about the raspberry swirl cheesecake)

You shouldn't be able to taste the cashews at all - try culturing the cheese longer.

I made the meltable mozzarella yesterday and put it on pizza today. Absolutely wonderful! I let it culture in my drying cabinet for about 10 hours in 40 C. After that it had thickened up on the top and smelled fantastic.

Did you make the gruyere without cashews? I'll be interested to hear how the yoghurt sharp cheddar goes... I kinda imagine a sort of sharp cheddar/air dried parmesan recipe combo, but i guess there'd be many possible approaches.

bekki wrote:

So, what have you used the flax meringue for?

And cream cheese in ice cream sounds pretty amazing! I may try the cheesecake in Vegan a la Mode with it. That recipe was so good with the chemical concoctions it calls for, but I just don't get into using that amount of fake stuff.

Well I've been experimenting with making mousse type things with it, in particular white chocolate mousse, which i think i've nearly got just right. I've been wanting some way to make it for a while, because i think it will go nicely with fruity ice creams. I'd like to try some sort of frozen mousse with it.

Today i made something that's not really firm enough to be mousse, but it involved a thick creamy vanilla base, kind of between custard and pudding, with a little white chocolate. Into that i folded a puree of poached apricots and peaches, then i folded in some flax meringue. We ate it with vanilla ice cream, some poached peach, and some sauce of pureed apricot, peach and mango, and it was good.

Yes! I think there are a lot of good recipes out there that could only be improved upon by using AVC cream cheese instead of tofutti etc.

Hey Loomi - I made the hard gruyere with a cashew cheese base. I have made a bunch of other cheeses with yogurt and sunflower seed bases, but as you can imagine, the sunflower is no where as creamy as the cashew gets. My cashew intolerance seems to have subsided a bit, so I was able to enjoy some of the hard gruyere, and it was wonderful. I'd love to make something even firmer, though, and do find myself adding more agar than called for across the board.

Hey Loomi - I made the hard gruyere with a cashew cheese base. I have made a bunch of other cheeses with yogurt and sunflower seed bases, but as you can imagine, the sunflower is no where as creamy as the cashew gets. My cashew intolerance seems to have subsided a bit, so I was able to enjoy some of the hard gruyere, and it was wonderful. I'd love to make something even firmer, though, and do find myself adding more agar than called for across the board.

I took the gruyere to a vegan dinner party where most of the people there were not vegan, and people LOVED it. The vegan hosts especially, but everyone thought it was super good.

_________________"No one with hair so soft and glossy could ever be bad at anything." - Tofulish

Hey Loomi - I made the hard gruyere with a cashew cheese base. I have made a bunch of other cheeses with yogurt and sunflower seed bases, but as you can imagine, the sunflower is no where as creamy as the cashew gets. My cashew intolerance seems to have subsided a bit, so I was able to enjoy some of the hard gruyere, and it was wonderful. I'd love to make something even firmer, though, and do find myself adding more agar than called for across the board.

oh yeah--I have to use a lot more agar than called for in the recipes as well....however, I use quite a lot of rejuvelac or water for blending, so this is probably why in my case.

I'm making the Gruyère right now. It already tasted pretty good although it still was a bit grainy, I guess my food-processor had some difficulties blending the cashews. So I wondered if I could blend it again after culturing? I'm planning to make the hard Gruyère.

Has anybody had luck starting yogurt with vegan probiotic capsules? I just cannot seem to make yogurt work for me as a source of bacteria, and am considering getting capsules. But I don't know what brands are best, what to look for, etc. Any advice?

Also, I've tried for the second time to make the buffalo mozzarella recipe and it failed...again. Last time the agar seized up, I think, because I started out with hot tap water. This time, I used cold tap water and let it boil/simmer according to the book's instructions. I discovered my blender just isn't powerful enough to whiz the agar and the cheese base together, so transferred everything into my food processor and blended it until very smooth. But the balls still refused to firm up in the ice bath. Perhaps my agar seized up again while I trying to transfer it all from the blender to the processor? Or am I doing something wrong when cooking the agar? SOS! I'm dying for mozzarella!

I'm making the Gruyère right now. It already tasted pretty good although it still was a bit grainy, I guess my food-processor had some difficulties blending the cashews. So I wondered if I could blend it again after culturing? I'm planning to make the hard Gruyère.

I would think that'd be alright, though it may be a bit thicker after culturing, so may be harder to blend. Also, it will get even firmer if refrigerated, so perhaps blend immediately after culturing. If you are using agar for thickening, Miyoko wrote this as an easier method -

miyokoschinner wrote:

To substitute agar, what you need to do is first dissolve that by boiling it in water. For half the recipe, you'll need a half cup of water and 4 teaspoons of agar powder. Boil first (use a lid to prevent evaporation), then whisk the gruyere in there. Once it's incorporated, you can transfer it to a mold. You don't need to keep cooking it. Now, the trick to getting it hard is to age it. Find a really cool place, less than 60 degrees, or your fridge. Wrap it in brine-soaked cheesecloth and let it dry out for a couple of weeks or longer.

I imagine you could still use the larger amount of agar, like in the book, if you do it this way.

jdfunks wrote:

Hey Loomi - I made the hard gruyere with a cashew cheese base. I have made a bunch of other cheeses with yogurt and sunflower seed bases, but as you can imagine, the sunflower is no where as creamy as the cashew gets. My cashew intolerance seems to have subsided a bit, so I was able to enjoy some of the hard gruyere, and it was wonderful. I'd love to make something even firmer, though, and do find myself adding more agar than called for across the board.

That's awesome, i hope the nut problem goes away completely for you! Sometimes i find myself thinking about what would be the worst thing not to be able to eat - soy, gluten or nuts, and i can't decide. Nor do i have any idea why i think about stuff like that. And yeah, the gruyere is really good. Would be tough to make without getting to eat any.

It'd be interesting to experiment with pressing the cheeses to make them harder. It's mentioned in the intro, Miyoko says it's difficult to get consistent results without a cheese press ( and therefore, i imagine, not a good idea to include in a recipe) but i'd like to have a try sometime.

Yes, the mozz will get a little more firm if you refrigerate it in the brine, but in my experience, it is always a little softer than dairy mozzarella.

Thank you! I actually ended up turning it into garlic and herb cream cheese (didn't have sun-dried tomatoes) . It yielded a less thick cream cheese but it is decidedly super yummy. So now instead of sadly hanging out in my fridge it is being gobbled up daily topped on homemade wild yeast bagels :)

Okay if you haven't tried the air dried camebert holy god is this stuff good! We had a wine and vegan cheese night over the weekend with brie, boursin, and camebert-- I was in heaven!

Right now I am working on:-sharp cheddar-hard gruyere

I also had great luck with the sour cream. Will def. post pictures later.

I have 3 questions:1. Has anyone tried to make rejuvelac out of mung beans?2. Has anyone tried to wax their long term cheeses (like the cheddar?3. What kind of molds are people using? I have an 8" spring pan (need a 6" one). Other than that I am just using bowls but it might be time for me to invest.

Yes, the mozz will get a little more firm if you refrigerate it in the brine, but in my experience, it is always a little softer than dairy mozzarella.

Thank you! I actually ended up turning it into garlic and herb cream cheese (didn't have sun-dried tomatoes) . It yielded a less thick cream cheese but it is decidedly super yummy. So now instead of sadly hanging out in my fridge it is being gobbled up daily topped on homemade wild yeast bagels :)

Okay if you haven't tried the air dried camebert holy god is this stuff good! We had a wine and vegan cheese night over the weekend with brie, boursin, and camebert-- I was in heaven!

Right now I am working on:-sharp cheddar-hard gruyere

I also had great luck with the sour cream. Will def. post pictures later.

I have 3 questions:1. Has anyone tried to make rejuvelac out of mung beans?2. Has anyone tried to wax their long term cheeses (like the cheddar?3. What kind of molds are people using? I have an 8" spring pan (need a 6" one). Other than that I am just using bowls but it might be time for me to invest.

Hey for your #3 question; I use cupcake pans. Line with cheese cloth and pour/pack cheese in. When they are cool, you can just pull them right out. I like this method because they are all the same size and when you turn them upside down, they have a cool shape. I also have a small 6 in. cake pan that I use for large wheels, but mostly I use cupcake pans. If you want to get fancy, after they aged/cured/brined, you can place them inside of big cupcake liners on the plate. :)

I started making half a batch of the cream cheese yesterday (but mistakenly added almost the full amount of yogurt). I opened the jar this morning to smell it, and it smells exactly like store bought cream cheese! I'm so excited to try it.

I just got this book and have tried the cheddar cheese recipe. I'm wondering what the process for adding the agar is if I replace the carrageenan with it? It says to just add and stir the carrageenan, will that work with the agar, or do I have to boil it in water like in other recipes until it is clear?

I just got this book and have tried the cheddar cheese recipe. I'm wondering what the process for adding the agar is if I replace the carrageenan with it? It says to just add and stir the carrageenan, will that work with the agar, or do I have to boil it in water like in other recipes until it is clear?

I am having trouble with both agar and carrageenan. I couldn't get agar to the point where it is no longer cloudy while boiling it - it keeps cooking down but doesn't change appearance, and if I try to put it in a recipe like this, it is already too hard. (I once killed my food processor motor that way!) Any tips?

The carrageenan was much easier to work with, but it produced a horrible, horrible fishy smell while cooking that did not dissipate after the cheese (meltable muenster) was cooled at room temp and then chilled, so I had to toss it. I can't remember the last time I was that nauseated by a smell! Is it normal for carrageenan to smell like that?

_________________"I feel like it's not a real political discussion if I'm not morally opposed to something I don't understand." - ndpittman

Can we talk about what brand of carageenan everyone is using? And does yours smell really bad? I found irish moss powder at a natural food store and this stuff STINKS. Like, beyond fishy. Rotten fish or something. It makes me retch anytime I get a whiff of it, so I was a bit apprehensive putting it into the cheeses, but I did anyways. I tried the monterey jack, and the smell didn't go away even after cooking. I had to throw it out, because the whole batch just tasted like it smelled. It faired a bit better in the air-dried camembert, but there are more things in that to cover up the flavor. The fresh mozzarella is only tolerable if I put lots of other things on it/around it. I know that the prob. is the irish moss powder, because everything tastes fine before I add that in, so I obviously need to get a different carageenan...

I started off using some from molecularrecipes.com, then bought the Willpowder. The cheese I made with the willpowder was my first real fail. It still hasn't set up properly, is gritty, and I can still taste a hint of funk. It's cheddar, so that's saying something. It smelled/tasted kind of like chlorinated fish...I tried to cook it with beer and it wouldn't even dissolve in pure liquid, whereas the MR brand gelled on contact and has no smell.

If yours is funky, I would stop using it. I ordered a 1 lb from MR that should be here Tuesday and I'll report back on it. Since the first batch I got from worked great, I don't see why this one would be any different.

Okay, just answered my own carrageenan question by searching through the thread. Good to know I can give it another try sometime, but NOT from Willpowder!

_________________"I feel like it's not a real political discussion if I'm not morally opposed to something I don't understand." - ndpittman